Tolerance for brutal, unsympathetic architecture seems to diminish exponentially every year. More consumers have a sense of the aesthetic; what they like, what feels right, and also what they don’t like. It’s a steep change in attitude and behaviour that is changing the way modern architecture is practiced, as Tim Peck, Caribbean CEO of OBMI, acknowledges. “As Tom Friedman stated, we are moving into the Talent Age, where the right side of the brain is becoming increasingly dominant over the left. This is being reflected in the consumer’s appreciation of quality design. There is a move for hotels to become houses of culture, with in-house museums, curators and artists. The rise of the design boutique hotel, initially driven by Schraeger and Philip Stark, has created a multitude of similar products, with each attempting to differentiate themselves by the quality of their design.”

That’s an awful lot of lines being blurred in an increasingly blurry world. Hotels with in-house museums? Even hotels with a resident artist. Of course, some of these ideas may not evolve fully. But it’s symptomatic of a move towards greater personalisation, of a sense that there is more to the perceived value of a product experience than a bed for the night or a meal eaten. Tim Peck has watched these changes creep steadily into the mainstream for some time, particularly in the boutique hotel sector. “There is a greater focus on personalisation. One size does not fit all now in luxury travel. It’s important not just to understand the market, but the people who make up that market and the triggers that make a travel experience enriching, rewarding and fulfilling for the individual. Translated into resort design, the focus is on identity, character, individuality and flexibility. Possession or an association with “things” is becoming less important; now the focus is on how these things combine to help create a sense of self.”

It’s the experience that counts
Experience is certainly becoming more important, particularly for many affluent people already overloaded with products. Many now prefer to collect lifetime experiences than clutter their home environment with yet more “things”. That means there’s an onus on the architect to provide an environment that feeds into that search for experience with a design aesthetic that is at once pleasurable, interesting and creates a storyline through the architecture. You shouldn’t ignore the altruistic element either.

“The social conscience has evolved from cause related marketing – now guests want to believe that their consumption is also helping to save the planet,” says Peck. “The guest is concerned with sustainability and genuine sensitivity to community – not greenwash. This has to be translated into the design of the property both in terms of the practical construction process, operations and the experience.”

The balance between investment and the natural ecological balance of an area can be tricky, of course. So what processes does Peck go through to ensure the balance between the environment and OBMI’s own design criteria is maintained? “There should not necessarily be a conflict between the concept of development and sustainability, I would say. Sustainability is the integration of the tripartite of financial concerns, social concerns and environmental concerns, with each having to be in balance for the project to be truly sustainable. Development inevitably means change, which can be sensitive to communities. Our role and the role of the consultants that we work with on our projects is to be creative with the change process to maximise the positive in the change and minimise the negative.”

Peck says OBMI’s small island roots in Bermuda and the Caribbean, mean OBMI remains highly sensitive to the balance between cultural and environmental priorities. He says OBMI is lucky enough to work in some of the most exotic locations around the globe and with that privilege comes a high level of responsibility too. “We encourage our clients to buy into LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) as a measurable benchmarking standard for environmental stewardship.”

It all sounds laudable, of course, but how is this approach blended with historical issues too? For example, with the Château de la Salle resort estate and the residential village that OBMI developed close to Lyon in France? “This approach is exactly why we were appointed to work with the Chateau de la Salle project, in that they saw our work and understood that we focused on creative solutions using appropriate architecture aligned with a full understanding of the resort industry. Whist working through the early stages of the design process with the client we developed the concept which allowed the resort and exclusive residential component to become a village, utilising the vernacular of the Burgundy region, relating to the 11th century Chateau, creating a unique sense of place, building on the historic value of the setting.”

More about OBMI
OBMI are specialist hospitality designers, master planning mixed use communities and hotels from offices throughout the Caribbean, Miami, Europe and the Middle East.

The company has a growing base of master planning and resort work in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, particularly in Oman, Bahrain, Libya, Morocco and Cairo.

OBMI is seeing impressive growth in Eastern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, particularly Croatia with exciting prospects in sub Saharan Africa developing resorts and or lodges that also assists local communities – with a defined portion of profits being made available for community projects.

Facts and figures
In 1936 Wilfred Onions and Valmer Bouchard stepped off a plane onto a sundrenched tarmac in Bermuda. They were two fresh-faced, ambitious architects armed with degrees from McGill University, four years of experience at London’s prestigious Lutyens firm and one epic vision: to turn their dreams into living, enduring history in Bermuda. The original iteration of OBMI, Onions and Bouchard, was founded on the strength of this vision. The partnership realised their dream by designing some of Bermuda’s most important and influential architecture and spent the next 20 years defining the aesthetic of the island known throughout the world today. At the same time they established a ‘sense of place’-driven approach to design that would propel the practice beyond the island beginnings and into the future.

“Over 70 years later we continue to approach architectural design and planning as a privilege and an opportunity for greatness,” says current Caribbean CEO Tim Peck. “Exactly like our founders, we enter every project with a great respect for its site. We start with a reverence for its story and a keenness to learn its every facet. Our philosophy says that only with the utmost sensitivity to its natural environment, culture and history will a site become a place with a story and a soul. It is through this thorough and thoughtful application of creativity that our client’s visions become history.” What started as Onions and Bouchard in Bermuda has grown steadily this past seven decades. Recent history has seen the addition of a Madrid office to manage the European region as well as an office in Muscat to handle the practice’s increased presence in the Middle East.

Visit www.obmi.com to find out more